Aeromodelling stars fly in for the 2019 FAI F3P World Championships on the island of Crete

Held at the Heraklion Arena, an Olympic-specification indoor arena that has already hosted many international sporting events, they will be the first international air sport event on the island of Crete and the first World Championships in Greece since the 2000 F3J World Championship in Corfu.

It will include two classes: F3P Aerobatics and F3P AFM, both of which have a weight limit of just 300g. Across the two classes, 60 competitors from 14 different countries will battle it out for a place on the podium.

The first class – F3P Aerobatics – involves competitors completing a pre-defined pattern of manoeuvres in front of a panel of judges whose decisions are based on factors including accuracy and smoothness. After a total of four preliminary rounds, those in the top 12 will compete in the finals scheduled for Friday, 22 March.

The second class – F3P AFM - involves competitors demonstrating their flying skills to music selected by the pilot. Each performance lasts for two minutes and is judged on the pilot’s ability to match his or her manoeuvres to the music. In this class, the top 10 competitors will go through to the finals scheduled for Saturday, 23 March.

Both finals will be livestreamed so fans around the world can follow the action.

The FAI would like to thank Local Government for the Region of Crete and the Municipality of Heraklion for their part in organising the event, hopefully just the first FAI CAT 1 competition on the island.